Mom of the Month: Robin Jarman

DUPLIN COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - On the third Monday of each month, WITN will be honoring our Mom of the Month.

February's mom is a Duplin County woman who says her joy is when others are happy, whether it's helping take care of her students with special needs or her family.

Over the past two years, Robin Jarman, of Beaulaville, has had to do a lot to help her husband, Thomas.

"January 2015 his appendix burst and that's when... he coded twice," she tells WITN. "He was in the hospital and that left him with short-term memory and he's had three strokes since then and two of them affected his memory even more."

"She knows how to take care of people, no matter young or old," Thomas says. "I appreciate her and I love her a lot."

Robin Jarman says their life is now like the movie "50 First Dates" where every day is like a repeat of the one before.

"It's been hard, but I haven't done it on my own," she says. "God's been there helping me."

Her daughter, Sabrina Willaford, says her mom uses her sick days and vacation days on taking care of others, like taking Thomas to his doctors appointments.

"She's just so remarkable," Willaford says.

She says she's not just inspired by her mom's selflessness at home, she wants to follow in her footsteps in working with kids with special needs.

It's the second year that Jarman has helped Ethan Boone as a teacher assistant at Rose Hill-Magnolia School in Duplin County.

This third grader developed a very serious bacterial infection when he was just 7 months old, but now, Jarman is helping to make him as independent as possible.

"I started working with him and I was amazed at things he was able to do," Jarman says. "To be able to see the growth and things they are starting to learn on their own, to be able to be their own self. I love it. It's just a rewarding job."

Ethan is just one of several students that Robin works with, but she says this 9-year-old is her main buddy, spending most of her time by his side. Boone says the feeling is mutual, saying Jarman is one of his best friends.

The two eat lunch together and she helps him with his prosthetics and with some of his custom tools that his dad made him, but Boone isn't the only one benefiting from this friendship.

"He's just a remarkable, he blesses me," Jarman says. "I wouldn't trade this job for anything."

Willaford says her mom leaves a caring footprint both at school and with her dad at home.

She helps take care of Thomas during the day and she says, "I'll hear multiple times, 'I sure do miss your mom when she's gone.'"

Every featured mom receives a $100 gift card as well as free oil changes for a year from Johnny's Tire Sales and Service in Greenville.

If you have a special mom in your life that you'd like to nominate, email momofthemonth@witn.com.

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